"Spring is not the time when Wout van Aert can get the absolute highest performance out of himself" - Jan Bakelants urges changing of focus for Visma star

It's probably fair to say that if Wout van Aert ends his professional career with just the one Monument win from Milano-Sanremo 2020, the Belgian will have underachieved in the Spring Classics. With him now the wrong side of 30 though and up against the all-conquering threats of Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar, is it time Van Aert shifts his focus away from the Monuments?

"I think spring is not the time when Wout can get the absolute highest performance out of himself," comments Van Aert's compatriot, Jan Bakelants, on the latest episode of Sporza's Wielerclub Wattage podcast. "He can train as much as he wants, but in the spring, he will always be slightly less than in the summer."

This is also true of the Team Visma | Lease a Bike superstar's aforementioned only Monument win to date - Milano-Sanremo 2020, an edition that was uniquely held in the summer during the year where the Coronavirus ravaged the whole sporting calendar. "For Van der Poel, it's the opposite: he’s good in the summer, but never as flashy as Van Aert," Bakelants adds.

"He needs to race more and take part in all the classics up until the Amstel Gold Race, including the Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo," suggests Bakelants' podcast colleague Dirk De Wolf, noting how Van Aert seemingly lacked the racing rhythm required to beat the likes of Van der Poel and Pogacar.

"Arnaud De Lie did the same thing last year, and it didn’t go perfectly for him either," adds Bakelants in agreement. "Van Aert and De Lie are riders who need to win races. They need to look at themselves in the mirror every morning and say, 'I am the best.' Then they become convinced of it and keep winning. But now Wout is heading into the big races without any victories. When your rival from your youth categories also starts to get the upper hand, it's hard not to lose heart."